Chula Vista ZIne Fest

Gender and Society

Introduction

I have developed into a teen advocate by learning about the ways that cause adolescents to have a negative mindset towards their bodies. I learned that a lot of the thoughts and way people perceive themselves is influenced by others. I want people to recognize that their words and actions do have an effect on other people. I want people to know about my topic because it is something that a lot of people go through. Some people deal with negative body image longer than others and I would like other people to become more aware of what causes others to think about their bodies in a negative way as well as the effects negative body image has on a person’s life as a whole.

At the beginning of this semester, I only really knew about the basic needs and I had very little knowledge on what the social needs of humans were. From this excerpt from a reading called “Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain”, I was able to get a better understanding of a person’s social need for status. The excerpt talked about a high school student who went to a party and had too much to drink. I learned that the girl who went to the party knew about the consequences of her actions but she still decided to partake because she had a drive for reward of social status. For my social topic, I learned that some people are not even having their basic need of food being met because they have an eating disorder.

Social Advocate

My social advocate is Jessica Nare! She is the Coordinator of the Women's Resource Center at SDSU.